What bothers me isn't the diseases-- they used to be widespread; the vast majority survived-- but the fact that we seem to have lost the knowledge of how to treat them.
Now, I'm all in favor of vaccines. Between potential ASD and the whooping cough, I'll risk the ASD. I've seen both (at least at a mild level). A touch of autism has some redeeming qualities; the whooping cough has none. It's temporarily disabling, sometimes permanently scarring, and could be deadly if an individual had preexisting asthma or other lung issues. The less of that stuff there is going around, the better-- with one HUGE caveat:
IF the modern medical machine fell apart-- or if the viruses in question managed to mutate around the vaccines-- the knowledge to cope with it wouldn't be there. We would be, in effect, back to Victorian (or Dark Ages) medicine.
When DH caught whooping cough back in 2008, it took six weeks, eight doctor visits, and several completely useless courses of azithromycin, doxycycline, and Augmentin to arrive-- by process of elimination-- at the conclusion that that was what it was.
Following that, and a revolving script for heavily narcotic cough syrup, we were on our own to figure out what to do.
If I had been raised to be completely dependent on a doctor's advice, instead of growing up around my aunt who was a hardcore believer in avoiding sick visits whenever possible, he very well might have hacked himself to death before anyone thought of mentholatum, infusion of peppermint (also known as a nice hot cup of strong mint tea, preferably with a generous dollop of honey in it), and hot steams.
I couldn't cure it (and was rather upset by that fact, having to that point never encountered something I couldn't beat in seven days or less) but I could at least enable him to maintain some level of functionality during about 80 of the 100 days we spent waiting for time to do its thing.
If one of my kids showed up with measles (or chicken pox, for that matter) tomorrow, the only thing our friendly pediatrician would know to do is scold me for not immunizing them and then put in a call to CYS to report my negligence. Fortunately, I'd know what to do for uncomplicated chicken pox. Lots of liquids, rest, and plenty of calamine. Unless I take pains to teach them (or make sure to hand down those outdated parenting books I picked up at Goodwill), though, my kids (assuming they get the chance to be parents) won't have a clue what to do for their offspring if necessary.